Author
Topic: Osama Bin Laden (Read 8731 times)

So unless you haven't turned on the internet or a television on in the last 24 hours, you know that Osama bin Laden has been found and killed, prompting hundreds of thousands of internet threads, and a veritable flood of memes.

Given that the Citadel has a fairly large international membership, I open the floor for commentary and debate.

This sums up my feelings, albeit in a sarcastic tone:Long story short: The world is a better place without him, but in terms of terrorism and US military, foreign, domestic, etc. policy, this changes nothing.

I can't help but question the validity of this occurrence, the skeptic in me finds it convenient they killed the man, then buried his body at sea within hours before the media, or anyone of note could get proper documentation and confirmation of the death. (Especially when the death of Sadam was so publicized one would think they'd make the most of carting about Bin's corpse for all to see)

*shrugs* It's all speculation since all we have is news reports and no body to prove it one way or another they got the right guy, and it's doubtful we'll suddenly get any of the civil rights we've lost since 9/11 handed back or the airports lighten up about wanting to grope every passenger and/or see them naked. So in the grand scheme of things meh. Or in the words of Shakespeare: "Much ado about nothing."

Well, parading a corpse *is* in bad taste, and not something I would think Obama would endorse. Bush on the other hand would probably hoist Osamas head on the White House flag pole.

There will be photographies. They will be shown to whoever needs to see them. You cannot announce something of that magnitude without securing evidence. I guess we won't see them though. It would fuel the flames of fanatics more than the hearts of patriots.

Silveressa, Sadam's execution became a political gaff when the video of it was released. Obama no doubt strictly ordered that Islamic tradition be followed to avoid angering anyone but those who supported Osama's efforts.

No doubt, gitmo-style photographs of soldiers playing with Osama's corpse would be bad. Very bad.

Logged

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. When one gazes into an abyss, he is gazed into by the abyss.-Friedrich Nietzsche.

Good points, although now that I think about it I wouldn't put it past Al Queada to have a Osama look-alike turning up down the road and claiming to be the "Real guy" just to mess with everyone and cause more trouble. (one scum of the earth down a few hundred thousand to go )

Too much effort for not enough of a return, al-Qaida is better off without him when you think about it; they now have a world famous martyr that they can say was denied his rightful place in heaven by being buried at sea by heathens, despite the fact that the whole reason he was buried at sea with such haste was that Islam calls for dead people to be buried w/in 24 hours, and no muslim nation would allow him to be buried in their borders.

In the grand scheme of things, the only person this whole dead OBL thing is going to help will be Obama, who'll be able to claim that he was responsible for the death of Osama come next election cycle. The terrorists will keep on plotting to kill "heathens" and the rest of the world will have forgotten about this in about a week and a half. Also, as much as I enjoy Bush bashing, even he had the common human decency to not put a rotting head on top of a flag pole; now if the White House had ramparts that be a different story, that's what they're made for after all, but not a flagpole. :p

Logged

For the love of meat, shut up! No one wants to hear your emo character background! My hands are literally melting away, and I'm complaining less than you!—K'seliss, Goblins

Nothing wrong with a little good old fashioned Bush bashing, Pariah. I rather enjoy it, and as I recall his reign was full of less than clever decisions. At least when it comes to international politics, which is what is felt outside US borders.

Nothing wrong with a little good old fashioned Bush bashing, Pariah. I rather enjoy it, and as I recall his reign was full of less than clever decisions. At least when it comes to international politics, which is what is felt outside US borders.

Two spectres shade pretty much every aspect of American policies in the past decade: terrorism and the green movement. Add to that the economy in the past four years and you can find the reasoning for any law past or policy applied.